Southport AGS 21st May

[Palustris]

Here we go again. Last show of the year for us. Sadly all the rest are just too far for me to drive to, sad.
See you there?

[Martinr]

Please introduce yourself. I haven't figured out who you are yet! Just look for a grumpy Scot with a beard and a car full of Lewisia rediviva (if they won't open I will be grumpy )

[JohnnyD]

Just spent half an hour trying to describe Palustris.
Failed.
I can introduce you though Martin.
J.

[veteran vet]

Last show as well till autumn, thought long and hard about even going, tonight after packing everything ready and thinking that is not much of show quality, I have to wonder why bother, setting off ar 5.30 for the 3 hour drive....I am sure the forumists will cheer me up when we get there....dragging Ian Kidman along so his coughing can keep me awake!!!

[Martinr]

George, similar thoughts here. Thank goodness for the large 1 pan cushion and Sempervivum classes. Still the pub lunch will be fun as usual 

[Palustris]

Ah, once upon a time we could go on the Friday night and stage the plants. Then return on Saturday to see the results, take the daughters around the town do a bit of shopping, visit the second hand book shops, then, collect the plants (only time one could park anywhere near the hall) and away home.
I would have thought I was fairly easy to describe and without using expletives too! 5 feet 8 inches (used to be 5.10 but I have shrunked). White haired, gold rimmed glasses, taking photographs of almost every plant, even the non-winning ones.

[Maggi Young]

We're just home from the set-up and evening staging of the Aberdeen show. Numbers of plants will be down but even with the first plants staged the hall begins to look good.... always amazes me how that happens!
Hope  you all have a super time in Southport tomorrow and that the Judges are generous to your plants!

[veteran vet]

Maggi...I hope your show goes well...amazing how things always are worrying before the day then on the day the plants come to the rescue, light up the show hall. Have a good Aberdeen show, must try and make it one day

[Maggi Young]

Thanks George!
 You'd be more than welcome to come up... why not make a weekend of it sometime....room for you here, you know.  It's been too long since the Butcher was here, too. And Boydie!

[ranunculus]

Just back from sunny and showery Southport and we are thrilled to announce that the Farrer Medal was awarded to a magnificent and ancient Leiophyllum buxifolium exhibited by Mr. Ormskirk; Brian Russ.  Hearty congratulations to Brian who gallantly agreed to pose for a Farrer photograph even though he is inconvenienced by crutches after a recent operation. 
More from the show later ... just an enormous thanks to Show Secretary; Roger Beecham and his hard-working team for another tremendous event.

BRIAN RUSS
LEIOPHYLLUM BUXIFOLIUM

[veteran vet]

Thought I had better post my pics tonight as off in the morning, in the gales and rain they are forecasting, for a few days in Dumfries and Galloway, do some bird watching and visit the odd garden, ending up near Port Patrick so should catch all of that wind.
Southport was different this year but not short on flower power, catering had fallen on sudden hard times...no fault of Roger and crew and I was amused to hear that the Pudsey Gobblers had also booked for their eating competition at the same pub as the judges were being taken to for lunch...smart Mr Smethurst...and they got there first so had all the best seats and were served first...did make me laugh when told the tale.
To business. My usual collection of pictures of plants that caught my eye or were easy to photograph (more to the point), not all were sticker winners but interesting none the less. In no particular order, just as I walked round the show tables
Iris forrestii.......M&S Lloyd
Erigeron chrysopsidis....Robin Pickering...was a good sized pot
Alstroemeria peregrina...Cecilia Coller...how she and the better half do it is amazing they had a 4-5 hour drive to get to the show and were going straight back home, they have to have some bionic bits in there somewhere. Having them come certainly adds flower power to a show though, bet Roger was smiling when her entry came in....both six pans won her yet more AGS medals.

[Ezeiza]

Alstroemeria pelegrina is a hard to please plant and rarely seen in cultivation.

[veteran vet]

It is not often we see cacti on an AGS show bench but when in flower they can make an eye catching pan, even if small. Vic Aspland had two on display
Mediolobivia haagei var salmonea
Mediolobivia brunescens, both plants shouted look at me, judges not inclined to agree as the 'only' got blue stickers
I gather it has been a tough winter for Rhodohypoxis (no shame there as so much 'stuff' did not like the winter) but one large pan did appear at Southport
Rhodohypoxis baurii 'E.A.Bowles'...B & S Smethurst
Pleione 'El Pico'...Cecilia Coller...she had more than one at the show

[veteran vet]

It is hard to grow A pelegrina (sorry re spelling) I find all the Alstroemerias difficult this far north. A patagonica does well where it has self seeded into a dry plunge area under a frame lid I rarely remove and it obviously has grown down the sides of the frame deep enough to get moisture when/where it need it (ie the roots) and has done well there for years, in a pot...kiss my a.... rather than fower, dying is easier. Back to the show
Physoplexis comosa...Roger Beecham...not only a good show sec but a dab hand at Physoplexis...got a Certificate of Merit for this, well deserved   
The Pickering clan from Goole,...were there with their usual display of well flowered plants, not sure who wears the trousers in this household as they both show in their own right...must need exceptional matrional harmony
Campanula aucheri...Margaret Pickering ...is a plant I have found difficult to keep going, I suspect may need repotting more often than I normally do
Gentiana syringea...Cecilia Coller...one of many pans of this she had on the day...she told me she had had good seed set and so lots of pans...saw this pan stting in the car window catching the sun just before she staged it trying to get a few more flowers to open

[veteran vet]

I should have mentioned that the Gentiana syringea was awarded a P.C. by the Joint Rock at the show
Now for the Farrer Medal plant, shown by Brian Russ, an exhibit so large that the picture does not do it any justice. Not sure how he got it into the hall as he was on elbow crutches but Southport is a friendly show...are not all AGS and SRGC shows...one of the pleasures of showing
Not content with pinching all the seats before the judges arrive Mr & Mrs Smethurst also produced a very fine
Verbascum laetitia, one of at least two at the show, the other, shown by Anne Vale was the best plant shown in the intermediate section. This was part of her winning six pan entry. For those who are interested the cypripedium you can see a coup[le of flowers of is C reginae alba, also part of the six pan. I have to be honest and say that as normal C reginae is one of my favourite cyps the white form does nothing for me...was a well produced plant none the less with 5-6 spikes